Mahmood to call for more police patrols and faster responses to 999 calls

"EPA Police officers in England and Wales would spend more time on the streets under sweeping reform plans to be outlined on Monday. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will pledge to cut "red tape" and "unnecessary admin" that she says prevents officers from leaving their stations. She will also promise faster response times for emergencies by setting a national standard for 999 calls."

"The reform plans would see police forces required to respond to emergencies in urban areas within 15 minutes, and within 20 minutes in rural areas. Most forces already have response targets, but the Home Office said there was currently no way of holding them accountable if they do not meet that standard. Failure to reach targets would see the home secretary sending in experts from high performing forces to help improve response times."

"Mahmood will also say she wants to change how staffing levels are funded amid concern the current 'officer maintenance grant' encourages some forces to employ uniformed officers in administrative roles such as IT or human resources. The targets are part of the government's sweeping changes to shake up policing in England and Wales. Many of the changes have already been announced by the government in the run-up to Monday's announcements. These include:"

Plans aim to reduce administrative burdens that restrict officers from leaving stations and increase time spent on patrol. A national standard for responding to 999 calls would require urban emergency responses within 15 minutes and rural responses within 20 minutes. Failure to meet targets would trigger deployment of experts from high-performing forces to assist improvement. Changes to staffing funding would remove incentives for assigning uniformed officers to administrative roles such as IT or human resources. Opposition parties criticized past reductions of frontline officers and urged delivery on promises. Neighbourhood Watch welcomed the response-time targets as meeting basic expectations.

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